Has buying Facebook fans become a problem?

This post is part of a series written by zcomm interns. Be sure to check back each week for their take on the latest in the public relations industry. This week, Hailey discusses the recent news about musicians buying fans on Facebook.

Recently, a graphic emerged on the internet that accuses a handful well-known DJs of buying Facebook fans. They’ve received a lot of negative feedback, although no one has been able to prove whether or not they did in fact purchase fans. Even if some of their Facebook fans were purchased, it was likely done by their management or public relations team. I have a hard time picturing David Guetta sitting at a computer late at night searching for the best bargain on 500 fans.

If some of their fans were purchased, this plan seems to have backfired. They’ve received nothing but criticism. With Facebook fans or Twitter followers, quality should be better than quantity. This holds true for most companies. It doesn’t matter how many fans you have. What matters is how many fans interact with you.

In my eyes, buying Facebook fans diminishes your credibility. It makes your company or brand look desperate. The companies you can hire to buy these fans obviously state otherwise. I find their claims rather hilarious. Here’s what FansGalore
can do for you:

-For Facebook : FansGalore taps into its network of people who are
interested in learning about new products and brands. These
individuals are also excellent networkers and relationship builders –
all of them have over 5,000 friends that they share and converse
with!,
-For Twitter : We use the follow-back method, finding individuals or
brands who share similar interests to you, and following them. Twitter
etiquette often drives those who are followed to follow you back.
There’s a little more magic that goes on in our back-end, but for the
most part, it’s straightforward.

I honestly laughed out loud when I read this for the first time. I’d like to meet one of these individuals and find out what makes him/her an excellent networker, or even just to find out if these individuals are in fact real people. The whole thing just seems sketchy to me, and I think companies should stay far away from the concept of buying fans.

Your most important fans are those than actually like your company or brand enough to press the like button. Even more important are the ones who engage with you on a regular basis and those who will affect your business. Purchasing fans essentially just increases your numbers online, but makes you look bad. Earn your fans, don’t buy them.

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2 comments for “Has buying Facebook fans become a problem?”

This is hilarious. Building and engaging a community using social media takes time. Instead of investing the time to grow followings hundreds and thousands deep, we search for the quickest route. I’ll bet these DJs aren’t the only ones who’ve done such a thing. Great post!

I don’t believe it’s become a problem. I think it’s a great solution to becoming public! Hell, if it wasn’t for buying facebook fans my websites, fan pages, and products wouldn’t see the light of day! I owe that all to http://www.socialfansfarm.com
Superior provider that can’t be matched. Legitimate fans, followers, youtube views, and +1s!